Evaluating Remote Boot Capabilities of RIS Clients

Evaluating Remote Boot Capabilities of RIS Clients

To initiate a RIS-based operating system installation, a RIS client must first perform a remote (network) boot by connecting to a RIS server over the network. When the RIS client locates and downloads the boot files located on the RIS server, CIW displays on the client and prompts the client to logon and begin the installation process. The best way to facilitate the remote boot is to use a PXE-enabled RIS client, which means that both the network adapter and BIOS of the RIS client support PXE.

However, if a RIS client does not have a PXE-enabled network adapter and a supporting BIOS, you can emulate PXE support by using a PCI-based network adapter that boots from a RIS boot floppy disk. The RIS boot floppy disk is a startup disk that simulates the PXE startup process for computers that lack a remote boot-enabled BIOS. To be able to use a RIS boot floppy disk, RIS client computers must meet the minimum processor, Random Access Memory (RAM), and hard drive specifications referenced in "Evaluating RIS Client Hardware" earlier in this chapter. By using the RIS boot floppy disk to emulate PXE support, you can enable RIS-based operating system installations on non-PXE-compliant client systems. The Remote Boot Floppy Generator (RBFG) utility allows you to generate RIS boot floppy disks for use with RIS clients that are not PXE-enabled.

Verifying the RIS Client Remote Boot Configuration

You need to verify whether your RIS clients are PXE-enabled. To do this, you can check the documentation and historical records that came with the system. If you do not have this information, you need to do the following:

Verify your RIS clients have PCI, Mini-PCI, or CardBus type network adapters. RIS clients can only perform a remote boot from these types of network adapters.

Verify that the BIOS of your RIS clients is capable of using the network adapter as the primary boot device. A ROM BIOS that is at least version .99n satisfies this requirement.

You might be able to obtain this information using a management system such as SMS or directly from inspection of the client computers.

However, it might be easier for you to use a remote script to determine whether the BIOS of client computers in a specified domain supports PXE-enabled remote booting. To do this, you can use the BIOS Information script, which you can find from the Remote Installation Scripts link on the Web Resources page http /www.microsoft.com/windows/reskits/webresources.). To return the BIOS information, run this script at the command line and specify the Active Directory domain name and the getallbios command. The returned information verifies if the BIOS of client computers supports PCI adapters and selectable booting. If so, then the BIOS supports remote booting from a network adapter.

The BIOS information script uses Active Directory Service Interfaces (ADSI) to query the Active Directory "Computers" container to obtain the computer objects for which the BIOS information is returned. The script also uses Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) technology to query each computer and return the specific BIOS information to the command line. You can also redirect this output to a text file that you specify. For the script to function properly, you must have WMI installed on both the computer running the script and the computers that you query with the script. In addition, you must have ADSI installed on the computer running the script.

Network adapter manufacturers can embed the PXE-based remote boot code on a chip as part of the network adapter. Some manufacturers create a version of PXE ROM code as part of the client system BIOS to support the PXE environment specification.

For RIS clients that are not PXE-enabled, you need to determine if they can use a RIS boot floppy disk. To use a RIS boot floppy disk, these clients must have a PCI-type network adapter because RIS boot floppy disks do not support Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA), CardBus, ISA, USB, or other non-PCI network adapters. You can generate the RIS boot floppy disks for these clients by running the Rbfg.exe utility. This utility is located on the RIS server in the following directory location:

\\RISServerName\RemoteInstall\Admin\i386\Rbfg.exe

The RIS boot floppy disk also enables you to use RIS to install operating systems on portable computers. However, portable computers often use PCMCIA network adapters that PXE does not support, so you cannot use these adapters with RIS-based operating system installations. Alternatively, you can place the portable computer in a docking station that contains a PCI network adapter and use a RIS boot floppy disk to facilitate the installation. You cannot add network adapters to the RIS boot floppy disk you create with Rbfg.exe.

For RIS clients that require the use of a RIS boot floppy disk, the boot sequence in the BIOS must be set so that booting the floppy disk occurs first. For PXE-enabled RIS clients, the BIOS must be set to allow booting from the network adapter.

For more information about the PXE environment, including its security context, see "PXE Specifications" earlier in this chapter.

For this part of your planning process, use job aid "Planning for RIS Clients" (ACIRIS_01.doc) on the Windows Server 2003 Deployment Kit companion CD (or see "Planning for RIS Clients" on the Web at https://www.microsoft.com/reskit) to record whether client computers require:

Upgrades to support PXE.

The use of RIS boot floppies.

BIOS upgrades to support selectable booting.

Also specify the domains where the clients exist and the personnel you want to assign to the upgrade tasks.